Neonicotinoids (neonics) are remarkably effective as plant systemics to control sucking insects and for flea control on dogs and cats. The nitroimines imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and dinotefuran are the leaders among the seven commercial neonics that also include the nitromethylene nitenpyram, the nitromethylene-derived cycloxaprid, and the cyanoimines acetamiprid and thiacloprid. Honey bees are highly sensitive to the nitroimines and nitromethylenes, but the cyanoimines are less toxic. All neonics are nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonists with a common mode of action, target-site cross-resistance, and much higher potency on insect than mammalian nAChRs at defined binding sites. The structurally related sulfoximine sulfoxaflor and butenolide flupyradifurone are also nAChR agonists, and the mesoionic triflumezopyrim is a nAChR competitive modulator with little or no target-site cross-resistance. Some neonics induce stress tolerance in plants via salicylate-associated systems. The neonics in general are readily metabolized and, except for pollinators, have favorable toxicological profiles.

Detoxification (detox) plays a major role in pesticide action and resistance. The mechanisms involved are sometimes part of the discovery and development process in seeking new biochemical targets and metabolic pathways. Genetically modified and chemical-safener-modified crops are a marked exception and often involve herbicide detox by design to achieve the required crop tolerance. This perspective evaluates the role of detox by design or chance and target-site-based selectivity in insecticide, herbicide, and fungicide action and human health and environmental effects.

BACKGROUND:Phenylpyrazole (fiprole) insecticides, including ethiprole, fipronil and flufiprole with excellent activity on rice planthoppers, are very important in Asia but resistance has developed after decades of use. The molecular mechanism of fipronil- but not ethiprole-resistance has been previously studied in rice planthoppers. In our laboratory, a small brown planthopper Laodelphax striatellus strain with ethiprole-resistance was cultured and the molecular mechanisms of ethiprole resistance and of cross-resistance among fiprole insecticides were investigated.RESULTS:Ethiprole-resistant L. striatellus has >5000-fold resistance compared to the susceptible strain, and exhibits around 200-fold cross-resistance with fipronil and flufiprole. RDL genes were isolated from susceptible and ethiprole-resistant L. striatellus and expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Electrophysiological studies showed fiprole insecticides inhibited γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-induced current with IC50 = 0.1-1.4 μM to LsRDL-S homomers. In LsRDL-R with A2'N mutation, only 1-13% inhibition was observed on treatment with 10 μM ethiprole, fipronil or flufiprole. Homology models indicate A2'N mutation allows crosslinking hydrogen bonding between Asn sidechains at the 2' position around the channel pore, blocking insecticides from interacting near this position. In contrast, insecticides showed favorable binding near A2' in wild-type L. striatellus.CONCLUSION:Cross-resistance is increasing for fiprole insecticides in L. striatellus and management strategies are necessary to minimize resistance. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Insecticide radioligands allow the direct recognition and analysis of the targets and mechanisms of toxic action critical to effective and safe pest control. These radioligands are either the insecticides themselves or analogs that bind at the same or coupled sites. Preferred radioligands and their targets, often in both insects and mammals, are trioxabicyclooctanes for the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor, avermectin for the glutamate receptor, imidacloprid for the nicotinic receptor, ryanodine and chlorantraniliprole for the ryanodine receptor, and rotenone or pyridaben for NADH+ ubiquinone oxidoreductase. Pyrethroids and other Na+ channel modulator insecticides are generally poor radioligands due to lipophilicity and high nonspecific binding. For target site validation, the structure-activity relationships competing with the radioligand in the binding assays should be the same as that for insecticidal activity or toxicity except for rapidly detoxified or proinsecticide analogs. Once the radioligand assay is validated for relevance, it will often help define target site modifications on selection of resistant pest strains, selectivity between insects and mammals, and interaction with antidotes and other chemicals at modulator sites. Binding assays also serve for receptor isolation and photoaffinity labeling to characterize the interactions involved.

Interactions between pesticides at common molecular targets and detoxification systems often determine their effectiveness and safety. Compounds with the same mode of action or target are candidates for cross resistance and restrictions in their recommended uses. Discovery research is therefore focused on new mechanisms and modes of action. Interactions in detoxification systems also provide cross resistance and synergist and safener mechanisms illustrated with serine hydrolases and inhibitors, cytochrome P450 and insecticide synergists, and glutathione S-transferases and herbicide safeners. Secondary targets are also considered for inhibitors of serine hydrolases, aldehyde dehydrogenases, and transporters. Emphasis is given to the mechanistic aspects of interactions, not the incidence, which depends on potency, exposure, ratios, and timing. The benefits of pesticide interactions are the additional levels of chemical control to achieve desired organismal effects. The risks are the unpredictable interactions of complex interconnected biological systems. However, with care, two can be better than one.

Originally, organophosphorus (OP) toxicology consisted of acetylcholinesterase inhibition by insecticides and chemical threat agents acting as phosphorylating agents for serine in the catalytic triad, but this is no longer the case. Other serine hydrolases can be secondary OP targets, depending on the OP structure, and include neuropathy target esterase, lipases, and endocannabinoid hydrolases. The major OP herbicides are glyphosate and glufosinate, which act in plants but not animals to block aromatic amino acid and glutamine biosynthesis, respectively, with safety for crops conferred by their expression of herbicide-tolerant targets and detoxifying enzymes from bacteria. OP fungicides, pharmaceuticals including calcium retention agents, industrial chemicals, and cytochrome P450 inhibitors act by multiple noncholinergic mechanisms, often with high potency and specificity. One type of OP-containing fire retardant forms a highly toxic bicyclophosphate γ-aminobutyric acid receptor antagonist upon combustion. Some OPs are teratogenic, mutagenic, or carcinogenic by known mechanisms that can be avoided as researchers expand knowledge of OP chemistry and toxicology for future developments in bioregulation.

Fluralaner is a novel isoxazoline insecticide which shows high insecticidal activity against parasitic, sanitary and agricultural pests, but there is little information about the effect of fluralaner on non-target organisms. This study reports the acute toxicity, bioconcentration, elimination and antioxidant response of fluralaner in zebrafish. All LC50 values of fluralaner to zebrafish were higher than 10 mg L-1 at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. To study the bioconcentration and elimination, the zebrafish were exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of fluralaner (2.00 and 0.20 mg L-1) for 15 d and then held 6 d in clean water. The results showed medium BCF of fluralaner with values of 12.06 (48 h) and 21.34 (144 h) after exposure to 2.00 and 0.20 mg L-1 fluralaner, respectively. In the elimination process, a concentration of only 0.113 mg kg(-1) was found in zebrafish on the 6th day after removal to clean water. After exposure in 2.00 mg L-1 fluralaner, the enzyme activities of SOD, CAT, and GST, GSH-PX, CarE and content of MDA were measured. Only CAT and CarE activities were significantly regulated and the others stayed at a stable level compared to the control group. Meanwhile, transcriptional expression of CYP1C2, CYP1D1, CYP11A were significantly down-regulated at 12 h exposed to 2.00 mg L-1 of fluralaner. Except CYP1D1, others CYPs were up-regulated at different time during exposure periods. Fluralaner and its formulated product (BRAVECTO (R)) are of low toxicity to zebrafish and are rapidly concentrated in zebrafish and eliminated after exposure in clean water. Antioxidant defense and metabolic systems were involved in the fluralaner-induced toxicity. Among them, the activities of CAT and CarE, and most mRNA expression level of CYPs showed fast response to the sub-lethal concentration of fluralaner, which could be used as a biomarker relevant to the toxicity. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Everyone is affected directly or indirectly by pesticide use and safety. The magnitude and perception of this effect depend on one's individual involvement or vantage point. The researcher seeks discovery and the entrepreneur goes after financial rewards. The general public wants food, health and safety. Pesticide toxicology is a core issue in these relationships. The three goals of toxicology research on pesticides are first to create new knowledge and chemicals, second to evaluate their effectiveness and safety and third to regulate their use. What amounts of pesticides are applied and do we really understand their biology and chemistry? This review addresses the ABCs of pesticide toxicology, i.e. their amounts, biology and chemistry.

What are the advantages of bioactivation in optimizing drugs and pesticides? Why are there so many prodrugs and propesticides? These questions are examined here by considering compounds selected on the basis of economic value or market success in 2015. The 100 major drugs and 90 major pesticides are divided into ones acting directly and those definitely or possibly requiring bioactivation. Established or candidate prodrugs accounted for 19% of the total drug sales, with corresponding values of 20, 37, and 17% for proinsecticides, proherbicides, and profungicides. The 19 prodrugs acting in humans generally had better pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic properties for target enzyme, receptor, tissue, or organ specificity due to their physical properties (lipophilicity and stabilization). Bioactivation usually involved hydrolases or cytochrome P450 oxidation or reduction. Prodrugs considered are neuroactive aripiprazole, eletriptan, desvenlafaxin, lisdexamfetamine, quetiapine, and fesoterodine; cholesterol-lowering atorvastatin, ezetimibe, and fenofibrate; various prodrugs activated by esterases or sulfatases, ciclesonide, oseltamivir, dabigatran; omega-3 fatty acid ethyl esters and esterone sulfate; and five others with various targets (sofosbuvir, fingolimod, clopidogrel, dapsone, and sildenafil). The proinsecticides are the neuroactive chlorpyrifos, thiamethoxam, and indoxacarb, two spiro enol ester inhibitors of acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACCase), and the bacterial protein delta-endotoxin. The proherbicides considered are five ACCase inhibitors including pinoxaden and clethodim, three protox inhibitors (saflufenacil, flumioxazin, and canfentrazone-ethyl), and three with various targets (fluroxypyr, isoxaflutole, and clomazone). The profungicides are prothioconazole, mancozeb, thiophanate-methyl, dazomet, and fosetyl-aluminum. The prodrug and propesticide concept is broadly applicable and has created some of the most selective pharmaceutical and pest control agents, illustrated here by major compounds that partially overcome pharmacokinetic limitations of potency and selectivity in the corresponding direct-acting compounds. The challenges of molecular design extend beyond the target site fit to the bioactivatable precursor and the fascinating chemistry and biology matched against the complexity of life processes.

Pesticide researchers are students of nature, and each new compound and mechanism turns a page in the ever-expanding encyclopedia of life. Pesticides are both probes to learn about life processes and tools for pest management to facilitate food production and enhance health. In contrast to some household and industrial chemicals, pesticides are assumed to be hazardous to health and the environment until proven otherwise. About a thousand current pesticides working by more than 100 different mechanisms have helped understand many processes and coupled events. Pesticide chemical research is a major source of toxicology information on new natural products, novel targets or modes of action, resistance mechanisms, xenobiotic metabolism, selective toxicity, safety evaluations, and recommendations for safe and effective pest management. Target binding site models help define the effect of substituent changes and predict modifications for enhanced potency and safety and circumvention of resistance. The contribution of pesticide chemical research in toxicology is illustrated here with two each of the newer or most important insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides. The insecticides are imidacloprid and chlorantraniliprole acting on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and the ryanodine receptor Ca2+ channel, respectively. The herbicides are glyphosate that inhibits aromatic amino acid biosynthesis and mesotrione that prevents plastoquinone and carotenoid formation. The fungicides are azoxystrobin inhibiting the Qo site of the cytochrome bc1 complex and prothioconazole inhibiting the 14α-demethylase in ergosterol biosynthesis. The two target sites involved for each type of pesticide account for 27-40% of worldwide sales for all insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides. In each case, selection for resistance involving a single amino acid change in the binding site or detoxifying enzyme circumvents the pesticide chemists's structure optimization and guarantees survival of the pest and a continuing job for the design chemist. These lessons from nature are a continuing part of pest management and maintaining human and environmental health.

The ryanodine receptor (RyR) of the calcium release channel is the main target of anthranilic and phthalic diamide insecticides which have high selective insecticidal activity relative to mammalian toxicity. In this study, the full-length cDNA of Chilo suppressalis RyR (CsRyR) was isolated and characterized. The CsRyR mRNA has an open reading frame (ORF) of 15,387 bp nucleotides, which encodes 5128 amino acids with GenBank ID: KR088972. Comparison of protein sequences showed that CsRyR shared high identities with other insects of 77–96% and lower identity to mammals and nematodes with only 42–45%. One alternative splicing site (KENLG) unique to Lepidoptera was found and two exclusive exons of CsRyR (I /II) were revealed. Spatial and temporal expression of CsRyR mRNA was at the highest relative level in 3rd instar larvae and head (including brain and muscle), and at the lowest expression level in egg and fat body. The expression levels of whole body CsRyR mRNA were increased remarkably after injection of 4th instar larvae with chlorantraniliprole at 0.004 to 0.4 μg/g. This structural and functional information on CsRyR provides the basis for further understanding the selective action of chlorantraniliprole and possibly other diamide insecticides.

Lipids play diverse and important biological roles including maintaining cellular integrity, storing fat for energy, acting as signaling molecules, and forming microdomains to support membrane protein signaling. Altering the levels of specific lipid species through activating or inactivating their biosynthetic or degradative pathways has been shown to provide either therapeutic benefit or cause disease. This review focuses on the functional, therapeutic, and (patho)physiological roles of lipases within the serine hydrolase superfamily and their inhibitors, with particular emphasis on the pharmacological tools, drugs, and environmental chemicals that inhibit these lipases.

Pesticides provide a fascinating combination of substituents not present in other environmental chemicals, leading to unexpected metabolites and toxicological effects in pests, mammals, and other organisms. The parent compound and/or metabolites of some pesticides have multiple targets, requiring identification of the causal agents and their modes of action. This review considers a few of the author's observations in the past six decades, some solved and others still puzzling. It illustrates that a new substituent combination not only confers specific chemical and physical properties to a class of compounds but often yields metabolites with a surprising variety of biological activities. Examples considered include proinsecticides, pro cyclic phosphates, CYP inhibitors as synergists, thiocarbamate sulfoxides, promutagens; carcinogens, and hepatotoxins, and stress tolerance inducers in plants. Although the discoveries considered are based on pesticide toxicology, they are broadly applicable to environmental toxicology and xenobiotics in animals, plants, and microorganisms.

The serendipitous observation of the insecticidal activity of a candidate herbicide was the first in a series of surprises that changed the course of insecticide research and opened the "Golden Age of Diamide and Isoxazoline Insecticides" which have a common genesis. Two novel modes of action were discovered, one involving the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor of the chloride channel and the other the ryanodine receptor (RyR) of the calcium-activated calcium channel. These are old insecticide targets, but physiological assays and radioligand binding studies reveal that the new diamides and isoxazolines act at previously unrecognized sites without cross-resistance to other chemotypes and more important differing between insects and mammals resulting in selective toxicity and mechanistically based safety. The phthalic diamide flubendiamide and anthranilic diamides chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole act at an allosteric site of the RyR to activate calcium release in insects but not mammals. They are the most important insecticide introductions of the past decade. Isoxazoline and meta-diamide insecticides and their previously unrecognized GABA-R target are more recent discoveries. Isoxazolines are currently important in flea and tick control in dogs and cats, and meta-diamides show promise for pest management and crop protection. These 21st century RyR and GABA-R diamides and isoxazolines were serendipitous discoveries and developments showing the importance of mechanism studies in maintaining the arsenal of safe and effective insecticides.

The gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor has four distinct but overlapping and coupled targets of pesticide action importantly associated with little or no cross-resistance. The target sites are differentiated by binding assays with specific radioligands, resistant strains, site-directed mutagenesis and molecular modeling. Three of the targets are for non-competitive antagonists (NCAs) or channel blockers of widely varied chemotypes. The target of the first generation (20th century) NCAs differs between the larger or elongated compounds (NCA-IA) including many important insecticides of the past (cyclodienes and polychlorocycloalkanes) or present (fiproles) and the smaller or compact compounds (NCA-IB) highly toxic to mammals and known as cage convulsants, rodenticides or chemical threat agents. The target of greatest current interest is designated NCA-II for the second generation (21st century) of NCAs consisting for now of isoxazolines and meta-diamides. This new and uniquely different NCA-II site apparently differs enough between insects and mammals to confer selective toxicity. The fourth target is the avermectin site (AVE) for allosteric modulators of the chloride channel. NCA pesticides vary in molecular surface area and solvent accessible volume relative to avermectin with NCA-IBs at 20-22%, NCA-IAs at 40-45% and NCA-IIs at 57-60%. The same type of relationship relative to ligand-docked length is 27-43% for NCA-IBs, 63-71% for NCA-IAs and 85-105% for NCA-IIs. The four targets are compared by molecular modeling for the Drosophila melanogaster GABA-R. The principal sites of interaction are proposed to be: pore V1' and A2' for NCA-IB compounds; pore A2', L6' and T9' for NCA-IA compounds; pore T9' to S15' in proximity to M1/M3 subunit interface (or alternatively an interstitial site) for NCA-II compounds; and M1/M3, M2 interfaces for AVE. Understanding the relationships of these four binding sites is important in resistance management and in the discovery and use of safe and effective pest control agents. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Use of the highly toxic and easily prepared rodenticide tetramethylenedisulfotetramine (TETS) was banned after thousands of accidental or intentional human poisonings, but it is of continued concern as a chemical threat agent. TETS is a noncompetitive blocker of the GABA type A receptor (GABAAR), but its molecular interaction has not been directly established for lack of a suitable radioligand to localize the binding site. We synthesized [(14)C]TETS (14 mCi/mmol, radiochemical purity >99%) by reacting sulfamide with H(14)CHO and s-trioxane then completion of the sequential cyclization with excess HCHO. The outstanding radiocarbon sensitivity of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) allowed the use of [(14)C]TETS in neuroreceptor binding studies with rat brain membranes in comparison with the standard GABAAR radioligand 4'-ethynyl-4-n-[(3)H]propylbicycloorthobenzoate ([(3)H]EBOB) (46 Ci/mmol), illustrating the use of AMS for characterizing the binding sites of high-affinity (14)C radioligands. Fourteen noncompetitive antagonists of widely diverse chemotypes assayed at 1 or 10 µM inhibited [(14)C]TETS and [(3)H]EBOB binding to a similar extent (r(2) = 0.71). Molecular dynamics simulations of these 14 toxicants in the pore region of the α1β2γ2 GABAAR predict unique and significant polar interactions for TETS with α1T1' and γ2S2', which are not observed for EBOB or the GABAergic insecticides. Several GABAAR modulators similarly inhibited [(14)C]TETS and [(3)H]EBOB binding, including midazolam, flurazepam, avermectin Ba1, baclofen, isoguvacine, and propofol, at 1 or 10 μM, providing an in vitro system for recognizing candidate antidotes.

Isoxazoline insecticides, such as fluralaner (formerly A1443), are noncompetitive γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor (GABA-R) antagonists with selective toxicity for insects versus mammals. The isoxazoline target in house fly ( Musca domestica ) brain has subnanomolar affinity for [³H]fluralaner and a unique pattern of sensitivity to isoxazolines and avermectin B(1a) (AVE) but not to fipronil and α-endosulfan. Inhibitor specificity profiles for 15 isoxazolines examined with Musca GABA-R and [³H]fluralaner, [³H]-4'-ethynyl-4-n-propylbicycloorthobenzoate ([³H]EBOB), and [³H]AVE binding follow the same structure-activity trends although without high correlation. The 3 most potent of the 15 isoxazolines tested in Musca [³H]fluralaner, [³H]EBOB, and [³H]AVE binding assays and in honeybee (Apis mellifera) brain [³H]fluralaner assays are generally those most toxic to Musca and four agricultural pests. Fluralaner does not inhibit [³H]EBOB binding to the human GABA-R recombinant β₃ homopentamer, which is highly sensitive to all of the commercial GABAergic insecticides. The unique isoxazoline binding site may resurrect the GABA-R as a major insecticide target.